Go Backstage with Little Miss Sunshine's 9-Year-Old Star

October 10, 2013


Hannah as Olive Hoover (by Ballerini Cooley Studios)

Get ready, Broadway: There’s a new kid on the block!

This season on the Great White Way has been all about the oh-so-cute kids. Annie and Matilda are chock full of insanely talented munchkins—and other casts, including Kinky Boots and Motown: The Musical, have their own standout stars. But now, there’s a new triple-threat youngster in town, and she is so precious I can’t even handle it. She’s 9-year-old Hannah Nordberg, the star of Little Miss Sunshine, which opens off-Broadway next week at the Second Stage Theatre in NYC.

Hannah recently shot a backstage video, which may just be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. She tours her tutoring room (“Because we have to learn. We can’t just not do school!”), shows off her collection of princess outfits (jealous!) and her teeny fat suit, and demonstrates her “ba-donk-a-donk” choreography. “It’s like a tiger on the ground,” she says. “I named it Lisa, because I think that’s a sexy grandpa name.” Whatever you say, Hannah!

In conclusion, I want to be her best friend. I bet you will, too, after watching this: